"without tea and biscuits" meaning in English

See without tea and biscuits in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Forms: without biscuits [alternative], without coffee [alternative], without tea [alternative], without tea or biscuits [alternative]
Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} without tea and biscuits, {{en-PP}} without tea and biscuits
  1. (UK, humorous, of a meeting) Inquisitorial, severe. Tags: UK, humorous
    Sense id: en-without_tea_and_biscuits-en-prep_phrase-dcRVNv95 Categories (other): British English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "without biscuits",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "without coffee",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "without tea",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "without tea or biscuits",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "without tea and biscuits",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "without tea and biscuits",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              69,
              85
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2006 October 7, Tamzin Lightwater, “Diary of a Notting Hill Nobody”, in The Spectator:",
          "text": "DD rang the chief constable and threatened to ‘give him an interview without biscuits’ (?).",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              56,
              70
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2012 August 22, Emma G. Keller, “Time to strip Prince Harry of his title”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "The army is apparently having Harry in for an interview without coffee, which is military-speak for a minor reprimand.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              42,
              66
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2018 March 13, Mike Borlace, Spider Zero Seven, Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 194:",
          "text": "It is not actually the classic 'one-sided without tea and biscuits' meeting, but initially I am told that I mustn't let 'blood-lust' curb my judgement.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              100,
              123
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024 August 8, anonymous train driver, “Guest Blog: A train driver responds”, in Bus and Train User:",
          "text": "If you’re recorded running at 77.1 mph over a 75 mph speed limit for a mile or so, that’s a meeting-without-tea-or-biscuits and a threat of disciplinary action, despite the fact that all you can tell is the needle is just over 75 – and on many trains it’ll be flickering too.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Inquisitorial, severe."
      ],
      "id": "en-without_tea_and_biscuits-en-prep_phrase-dcRVNv95",
      "links": [
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          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ],
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        ],
        [
          "severe",
          "severe"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, humorous, of a meeting) Inquisitorial, severe."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of a meeting"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "humorous"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "without tea and biscuits"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "without biscuits",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "without coffee",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "without tea",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "without tea or biscuits",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "without tea and biscuits",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "without tea and biscuits",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
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        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English humorous terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English prepositional phrases",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              69,
              85
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2006 October 7, Tamzin Lightwater, “Diary of a Notting Hill Nobody”, in The Spectator:",
          "text": "DD rang the chief constable and threatened to ‘give him an interview without biscuits’ (?).",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              56,
              70
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2012 August 22, Emma G. Keller, “Time to strip Prince Harry of his title”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "The army is apparently having Harry in for an interview without coffee, which is military-speak for a minor reprimand.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              42,
              66
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2018 March 13, Mike Borlace, Spider Zero Seven, Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 194:",
          "text": "It is not actually the classic 'one-sided without tea and biscuits' meeting, but initially I am told that I mustn't let 'blood-lust' curb my judgement.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              100,
              123
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024 August 8, anonymous train driver, “Guest Blog: A train driver responds”, in Bus and Train User:",
          "text": "If you’re recorded running at 77.1 mph over a 75 mph speed limit for a mile or so, that’s a meeting-without-tea-or-biscuits and a threat of disciplinary action, despite the fact that all you can tell is the needle is just over 75 – and on many trains it’ll be flickering too.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Inquisitorial, severe."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ],
        [
          "Inquisitorial",
          "inquisitorial#English"
        ],
        [
          "severe",
          "severe"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, humorous, of a meeting) Inquisitorial, severe."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of a meeting"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "humorous"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "without tea and biscuits"
}

Download raw JSONL data for without tea and biscuits meaning in English (2.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-07-11 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-07-01 using wiktextract (84cf5d0 and f1c2b61). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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